Ten Minutes
by Sorida
Summary: After years of change, Robotboy and Tommy have grown apart. But ten minutes could make all the difference in the world. Character Death. I believe this is unlike any other story in the RB archive.


Summary: Humans grow up. Robots remain the same. Kids forget about old friends. Robots remember everything. So when that human begins to mature and forget, what happens to the android in the corner? Character death.

Robotboy sighed as he looked out the window of Tommy's room. There, he saw two high school students giggling and chatting away. The boy whispered to the girl and a smile immediately spread across her face. They both began to laugh again, clutching their stomachs and tears running down their faces. Soon, they bid farewell to one another and the boy made his way up to the house. Tommy Turnbull, now sixteen, was home from school.

Robotboy turned away from the window to face the door of the bedroom. That room, the room he had known for all of his life, had changed drastically. Gone were the multiple Human Fist comic books that littered the floor. Gone were the posters covering nearly every inch of the walls. Gone were the countless action figures and toys. Gone was the lone drawing of Robotboy. It seemed...empty, barren even. Everything had changed and the thing Robotboy had been dreading finally happened. Tommy was growing up.

A small oil tear made its way down white metal and onto the carpet below. Robotboy witnessed so many changes, so many more than he wanted to accept. Donnie had moved out two years ago to go to college, which was partially a good thing since Robotboy didn't have as much of a threat of exposure when Tommy wasn't around. There was another thing; Tommy was never around anymore. He always had something "important" to do every day.

It had happened gradually right after Donnie left. Tommy went to middle school where the workload increased and ate up valuable time the two friends had. Of course, Tommy, Lola, and Gus all got together over the week-ends and included Robotboy in some of their activities. But there were days when the trio wanted to see a movie and Robotboy couldn't go because it was "too risky". As the Tweens became teenagers, this began to happen much more frequently and soon Robotboy was out of the picture for these meetings. For the week-ends, he would just stay cooped up in Tommy's room trying desperately to entertain himself. He always looked forward to the weekdays where Tommy would bring him to school.

That all changed once Tommy began high school. One day, he told Robotboy to stay at home and promised to bring him the next day. From past experience, Robotboy knew he would never see that school again. Sadly, he was correct. After that day, Tommy never brought Robotboy anywhere. Not in the backpack, not in disguise, nothing. Robotboy was restricted to the house or the bedroom when Tommy's parents were around. He hated it.

Months passed with minimal conversation between the two friends. Robotboy would still have to defeat Kamikazi, but more often than not, he was alone. He would always come back, but every time he sustained more and more damage. He would usually have to repair himself, seeing as Tommy was occupied with one thing or another. It seemed as though Tommy had forgotten all about him.

Then, one Monday, Tommy had actually talked to Robotboy. Not just a typical two second exchange, but a real in depth talk. He told the small android about "girlfriends", "boyfriends", and "dating". Robotboy was fascinated at the humans' customs and behaviors pertaining to "dates" and soon discovered that Tommy and Lola were indeed "going out". At first, Robotboy had been very excited for Tommy. But as weeks turned into months, Robotboy felt even more abandoned than before.

All the "dates" Tommy and Lola were going on ate up all of Tommy's free time and homework time. He would usually go over to Lola's house to do homework and stayed there until dinnertime. Afterwards, he would just watch TV or go to bed, completely ignoring the small blue and white android. Robotboy began feeling the pangs of loneliness eat away at him. The pain was so unbearable, threatening black oils tears to be released from Robotboy's eyes. It continued to bore down into his Motherboard, causing him much sorrow. He was slipping into a depression that only Tommy could cure.

Robotboy's fights with Kamikazi, Bjorn, and the others were becoming more violent. Sometimes, Robotboy would be on the brink of artificial death with jagged gashes through his metal plating and slight damage to the chips underneath. But somehow, he always managed to get away, always managed to win. He had become less naive over the years, learning more about deception and the human nature as a whole. Soon, he realized that he didn't have the same burning desire to become human anymore. It was still there, but not nearly as powerful and driving as before. Becoming human just reminded him too much of the younger Tommy who would play with him, the one who would be there for him, the one who became his friend.

Tears slipped down Robotboy's face at the memories and knowing deep within his emotions chip that those days would never return. Those days were over. And for the first time, Robotboy remembered and considered his self-destruct mechanism. It would be perfect. No more pain, no more suffering, no more Tommy, no more memories. It all seemed so simple, and nothing was stopping him. Tommy wouldn't notice and neither would Lola or Gus. Moshimo might be saddened but he could always build another robot. After all, he built Robotman and Robotgirl. Why not a new Robotboy?

His volumes shot up once he heard approaching footsteps. Tommy never came home this early. Maybe, things were turning around. Maybe Tommy would finally play with him! Maybe Tommy would fix him properly! Maybe Tommy would be his friend again! Robotboy's hope soared as the door opened.

Robotboy ran up to the teenager and looked expectantly up at him. Tommy looked down at the small android and smiled.

"Hey Ro, how are you?" Tommy asked. Robotboy smiled and replied.

"Ok Tommy. Robotboy very bored, but ok."

"Good. Sorry Ro, I can't stay long. I have to go over Lola's." Robotboy's "heart" sank as the words left Tommy's mouth. He had to accept that he was a thing of the past, a memento. There was nothing else to exist for. Nobody seemed to want a small android who likes to play games and have friends.

As Tommy turned to leave, Robotboy spoke. "Tommy?" he asked.

"Yeah Ro?"

"Are we still...friends?"

"Of course Ro. I need to go, we can talk more later, ok? I promise." Robotboy's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Tommy always promise! Tommy never keep promise! Promise just words to Robotboy! No meaning! No emotion! Only words! Tommy never play with Robotboy anymore! Tommy never look at Robotboy!" he quieted down, bright blue eyes becoming sad once again. "Robotboy invisible to Tommy."

Tommy stood there in shock. He would have said "That's not true," but he knew that he would be lying. Now that he took a better look, Robotboy did look battered up. Old "scars" (Tommy didn't know what else to call them) were vivsible all over his small frame. Tommy soon realized that Robotboy had attempted to weld himself back together. He was puzzled.

*Why didn't Ro just ask me to fix him?* Tommy thought. But then he remembered something that made his heart sink all the way to his toes. He remembered one Saturday night that he had actually decided to stay home.

Tommy was sitting at his desk, mouth in a pout, as he worked on a research project for history. Suddenly, a small blue blur flew into the room through the window and hastily closed and bolted it shut. Being used to this type of behavior from Robotboy, Tommy resumed his work as if nothing ever happened. Soon, he heard soft footsteps coming towards him and light tap on the shoulder. He turned to face the android before him, eyes wide with fear and pain. Tommy sighed and tried to turn around, but was stopped by the same blue hand that tapped him.

"To-om-my?" Robotboy stuttered. He was beginning to shake; metal rattled against metal making the most horrible noise.

"What is it Ro?" Tommy asked, slightly annoyed. This was the second time Robotboy had interrupted him during a big project and last time, he failed all because the robot had been afraid of something outside the window.

"Can you-ou he-elp re-pa-r-re-re? Da-am-am-age ex-ces-sive." He managed to stutter in between painful electrical sparks.

"Ro, not right now, I need to finish this. Just wait a minute."

"B-bu-ut…"

"Ro, please be patient. I'll fix you in a minute!"

"N-n-no ti-ime."

"Why don't you just fix yourself then? Why do you even need to be fixed in the first place? Aren't you indestructible? Oh wait, you're not. Sorry Ro, I knew that." Tommy replied while remembering that time Protoboy wanted revenge. Robotboy was so close to being scrapped…he tried not to think about it. "Why don't you go down to the garage? There are some tools you can use." He heard footsteps make their way out of the room and down the stairs. Tommy sighed. Robotboy sure did know when to be inconvenient. He returned to his work, the large oil stain on the floor going unnoticed along with its trail to the garage.

It was then Tommy realized that he had been a terrible friend to the android before him. Looking back on events, he discovered that Ro could have died from the damage he sustained. His eye caught on an extremely noticeable "scar" under Robotboy's right eye. It stood out so well against the rest of the smooth metal on his face, so jagged and large. Then he finally noticed the right eye. It had been cracked and was now a slightly duller blue than the other one. Altogether, Robotboy looked as though he had been to the pits of robot Hell and back.

"Ro, I'm so sorry." Tommy whispered, moving towards the android and embracing him. Tears fell from his eyes, and even more came when the robot hugged back. The two friends stood in silence, until a loud "bang!" was heard overhead. Tommy quickly broke away from Robotboy to open the window. Pushing his head through the window, he gasped. It was one of Kamikazi's aircraft machines. Lasers and missiles lined the sides of the aircraft and a large speaker was on top.

Inside the ship, Kamikazi smiled evilly. Not his typical "I'm a cartoon villain!" smile, but one of pure malice. Hey, time does things to people and he had some practice at "perfecting" his ways. He no longer fell for silly little tricks and his own plans for capturing Robotboy were now well thought-out and nearly flawless. The robot always seemed to get away even without the assistance of Tommy. But now, seeing Tommy again for the first time in years, had given him a new plan.

In a fraction of a second, a robotic hand launched out of the ship, grabbed Tommy, and hauled him into the air.

"Robotboy!" Kamikazi shouted through the speaker, "I have your precious friend! Surrender yourself to me in the next ten seconds and I will release him! Fail to oblige and I will kill him slowly and painfully and force you to watch!" He cackled madly as Tommy struggled to free himself. Robotboy, hearing Kamikazi's voice, was already out of the room and facing the ship before him. With a few quick calculations, he knew he would never be able to save Tommy and be free at the same time. Tommy was too close to the opening of the ship for Robotboy to grab him in time and too far away for Super Activation to make any sort of advantage.

"Hurry now Robotboy, you have 6 seconds remaining!" What could he do? He couldn't jeopardize the world! But he couldn't give up on Tommy! His only friend couldn't die!

"5 seconds!" Robotboy tried to fly towards Tommy, but one of the guns locked onto the boy and threatened to shoot if the robot got any closer.

"4 seconds!" He could see the fear in Tommy's eyes, hear his pleas for help. What could he do?

"3 seconds!" Then he remembered. Hopefully, his plan would work.

"2 seconds!" Tommy would have enough time to get away and the world would be saved once and for all. Robotboy made his decision.

"Let Tommy go!" Robotboy shouted; Tommy's eyes widened in both shock and fear at Robotboy's outburst. "I will come with you." Tommy's eyes got larger once he heard Robotboy's first grammatically correct statement. Robotboy flew towards the small opening, ignoring the shouting from Tommy.

"Ro, what are you doing? No! Don't go Ro! RO!" Tommy shouted as Robotboy continued his flight. The robotic hand holding Tommy slowly lowered him towards the ground at the same rate Robotboy was ascending. The two paths crossed, leaving two seconds for the friends to talk.

"Ro, please don't go." Tommy whispered, tears streaming down his face. Robotboy looked right into his eyes, smiling. He quickly raised his hand and pointed a finger towards the arms. With a well-aimed laser shot, he severed the metal arm and caught Tommy. Kamikazi, outraged by being outsmarted once again, aimed a laser at the two friends now safely on the ground apologizing to one another, one for the scare and the other for neglect. He took the cheap shot.

The laser was aimed at the teenager who had his back turned. The robot took notice of the laser and shoved the teenager out of the way, taking the blast himself. Tommy could only watch as the small robot took his shot. Before he could hit the ground, Tommy caught him and noticed the jagged weld had reopened, spilling oil all over the ground. Another robotic hand shot down from the ship in the sky and snatched the weakened robot from the teen. Tommy shouted as Robotboy was pulled aboard and the ship moved away from him. Sprinting after it, Tommy tried to catch up.

Meanwhile, the robot onboard decided to follow through with his first plan. It was one of most desperate things he could do, but it would work. For the second time in his life, Robotboy considered his self-destruct. This time, he would actually activate it. In a flash of light, the ship, the man, and the robot disappeared. Tommy cried out in sadness as metal pieces rained down from the sky. A fried Motherboard landed at his feet and he picked it up. It was Robotboy's. But all hope he had vanished as he realized it was beyond repair. Tommy clutched it close to his chest and walked back to his house.

It all happened in ten minutes.


End file.
